(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a retractable door handle assembly for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a retractable door handle assembly for a vehicle in which a door handle, in one state, can be retracted into an outer panel of the door, and in another state, can be projected outward from the outer panel of the door.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a vehicle can have an interior of a predetermined size, in which a driver and perhaps additionally one or more accompanying passengers can ride. Accessible in the interior of the vehicle may be a mechanism for opening and closing a door of the vehicle. There may also be a similar mechanism accessible on the outside of the vehicle.
For example, there may be one door handle mounted on an inner surface of the door towards the interior of the vehicle and there may be another door handle mounted on an outer surface of the door toward the outside of the vehicle.
Each door handle is connected to a door latch that fixes the door to a vehicle body, and as a result, the door can be opened when the door latch is released by operating either door handle.
The outer door handle is normally pivotably mounted on an outer panel of the door (which may be referred to hereafter as the “outer door panel”) and is installed in the outer door panel and projected laterally outward from the vehicle (i.e., projected along a lateral axis or a “width direction” of the vehicle) so that the passenger can easily grip the door handle.
When the door handle is installed to project laterally outward from the vehicle, operating convenience for the passenger is improved, but the external appearance of the vehicle can deteriorate due to the projection of the door handle (i.e. the door handle is not flush with the door). In addition, driving noise can be exacerbated while the vehicle is driven and driving performance can also deteriorate due to additional resistance caused by the protrusion of the door handle.
In recent years, in order to solve this problem, a retractable door handle has been developed, in which a motor causes the door handle to be either projected laterally outward from the outer door panel or retracted into an recess formed in the outer door panel.
A fail-safe function may be desired that can improve stability of the retractable door handle or allow for a key to be used to operate the door handle in a scenario where the motor fails or is otherwise unable to project or retract the door handle.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.